Juan Manuel Marquez: Canelo Alvarez not yet elite after win over Austin Trout

Juan Manuel Marquez acknowledges that Canelo Alvarez scored a good win over Austin Trout this past Saturday, but the veteran Mexican superstar isn't yet ready to call the 22-year-old Alvarez an elite fighter just yet, saying he's got plenty more to prove:

"A win over Trout [does] not confirm that he is the best, because there are higher quality opponents out there. It's an important step for Canelo and gives him access to bigger fights. He has to face the right opponents and prove that he is a great fighter - opponents like Sergio 'Maravilla' Martinez, Vanes Martirosyan, Erislandy Lara. He has to fight against those kind of opponents to prove that he's among the best in the world."

There are two ways to take this, but as I was saying earlier on Twitter about this quote, it's a badly-kept secret at best that Marquez doesn't particularly like Alvarez. It's not the first time he's had some sour comments about Canelo.

Now, in one way, he's right that this sole win does not make Canelo one of the true elites of the sport -- Alvarez is a superstar, but there's nothing wrong with saying that to be considered one of the great fighters in the world today, he still has to do more than beat Austin Trout.

As for including Vanes Martirosyan and Erislandy Lara as examples of "higher quality opponents," that is, um, debatable. With Mayweather going back to 147, Canelo and Trout were considered the 1-2 guys at 154 pounds by just about everybody. It's a good but jumbled division. Right now, I believe Alvarez sits at the top of that division. That's not to say that there are no challenges out there, or that Lara or Martirosyan couldn't give Alvarez a test, but I do think Canelo's win over Trout is more than either of those two have ever done, and by a good amount.

Martinez, of course, is another story, but he's at 160, too. Canelo has no reason to move up at this point.